I totally get what you’re saying about the fiddly, menu driven Zoom gear.

this and the hard to use volume wheel are why I returned my PS04 the next day.

pop music is not musically driven, but sales driven

have to disagree with that blanket statement.
Pop, Country, Metal, Rap, Dance whatever, I think most people make the kind of music they make because that's what they like the most.
while all genres are likely to have people just trying to make money, I believe most people spending that kind time an effort are still trying to make something worthwhile.

as dickl & tony point out, a good song is one that can be played in a simple unadorned fashion and still hold up.
songs like this can usually cross style boundaries as well by just changing the arrangement and/or instrumentation.

GeeJay wrote: Dave is trying to trick us into thinking he’s done more than he actually has by numbering his 5th song number 7!

I have a few crap songs in there that I haven't released for public consumption That accounts for the holes in my numbering system.

GeeJay wrote:Either of you think you’ll go back and flesh out any of the songs later?

I plan to. There are definitely some gems in the rough that I would like the polish up a bit. I am trying to do semi-polished versions as much as I can. This RPM process has actually taught me how to make a better polished demo with less work. I am starting to subscribe to the Tony Butterworth school of presets and templates.

GeeJay wrote:“Jesus Painter”

Lol. Yeah, not my thing. He said he found his calling to paint Jesus while playing christian rock music. I think he found a way to sucker people into buying his crappy paintings.

I was just in it for the guitar playing.

GeeJay wrote:I like the look of that Tascam recorder Dave, I totally get what you’re saying about the fiddly, menu driven Zoom gear. It takes a lot of use on those things to get familiar enough with them that you don’t spend as long pressing buttons as recording!

Yup. You got it. This thing is dead easy and I think it has found a home in my permanent songwriting workflow. I get the song ideas on the Tascam, but I record them to a drum loop at a specific BPM (I tend to gravitate to 140 or 160BPM). Then I dump them in Reaper set to 140BPM and I can insert new drums, add bass, guitars, keys, etc.

The key I have learned is to get the song structure established early. Put in a spot for a guitar solo. Get the lyrics solidified early. That way I am not mucking about, cutting and pasting sections of the song later. I can just layer more parts onto my original acoustic demo since the structure and the tempo is solid. That was definitely a moment for me.

Just want to personally thank everyone for the nice comments about Make Me Crawl. Sorry for the late response. I just finally got around to hitting the forum.

And to Tony and Dave, thanks for the opportunity to get my song heard. More power!

I just finished my latest recording. It's in my native language. I do hope it gets on the show in the future. If you want to hear it now, it's on my blog complete with brief background and english translation.